Research shows that cultural minority students are over-represented in special education services based on teacher bias and attitudes towards these cultural minority students. A cultural minority that has not been as widely researched is the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning (LGBTQ). The purpose of this study is to determine if teacher’s bias and attitude towards LGBTQ students interferes with their ability to make special education referrals for sexual minority students (Hebl, 2000), who are students identified as LGBTQ. For the purpose of this study, a variety of teachers were asked to complete, two qualifying questions, a detailed demographic questionnaire, the brief RCOPE, the Homosexual Attitude Scale, the Riddle Scale (both measuring attitude and acceptance of sexual minority individuals), two vignettes, and a post-vignette question to determine if the participants’ personal biases and attitudes impact their willingness to refer sexual minority students to special education. A logistic regression was used to analyze data. All data was collected from teachers via Mechanical Turk (Mturk) through Amazon. It is hypothesized that teachers are more likely to make a special education referral for sexual minority students than heterosexual students based on personal biases.
","abstract_html":"<p>Research shows that cultural minority students are over-represented in special education services based on teacher bias and attitudes towards these cultural minority students. A cultural minority that has not been as widely researched is the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning (LGBTQ). The purpose of this study is to determine if teacher’s bias and attitude towards LGBTQ students interferes with their ability to make special education referrals for sexual minority students (Hebl, 2000), who are students identified as LGBTQ. For the purpose of this study, a variety of teachers were asked to complete, two qualifying questions, a detailed demographic questionnaire, the brief RCOPE, the Homosexual Attitude Scale, the Riddle Scale (both measuring attitude and acceptance of sexual minority individuals), two vignettes, and a post-vignette question to determine if the participants’ personal biases and attitudes impact their willingness to refer sexual minority students to special education. A logistic regression was used to analyze data. All data was collected from teachers via Mechanical Turk (Mturk) through Amazon. It is hypothesized that teachers are more likely to make a special education referral for sexual minority students than heterosexual students based on personal biases.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Forney, DiAne'"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Doctor of Philosophy - School Psychology","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Human Services","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Dr. Nina Ellis-Hervey","Dr. Robbie Stewart","Dr. Luis Aguerrevere"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2019,"date_issued":"2019-05-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2019-05-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:30:22Z","subjects":["LGBTQ","sexual minority","special education","teacher attitude","LBGTQ in special education","Disability and Equity in Education","Educational Psychology","School Psychology"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/257","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Dr. Nina Ellis-Hervey","Dr. Robbie Stewart","Dr. Luis Aguerrevere"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Forney, DiAne'"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2019-06-29T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Human Services"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Doctor of Philosophy - School Psychology"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["LGBTQ","sexual minority","special education","teacher attitude","LBGTQ in special education","Disability and Equity in Education","Educational Psychology","School Psychology"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/257"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Research shows that cultural minority students are over-represented in special education services based on teacher bias and attitudes towards these cultural minority students. A cultural minority that has not been as widely researched is the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning (LGBTQ). The purpose of this study is to determine if teacher’s bias and attitude towards LGBTQ students interferes with their ability to make special education referrals for sexual minority students (Hebl, 2000), who are students identified as LGBTQ. For the purpose of this study, a variety of teachers were asked to complete, two qualifying questions, a detailed demographic questionnaire, the brief RCOPE, the Homosexual Attitude Scale, the Riddle Scale (both measuring attitude and acceptance of sexual minority individuals), two vignettes, and a post-vignette question to determine if the participants’ personal biases and attitudes impact their willingness to refer sexual minority students to special education. A logistic regression was used to analyze data. All data was collected from teachers via Mechanical Turk (Mturk) through Amazon. It is hypothesized that teachers are more likely to make a special education referral for sexual minority students than heterosexual students based on personal biases.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Teacher’s Attitudes and Willingness to Refer Sexual Minority Students to Special Education"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Dr. Nina Ellis-Hervey","Dr. Robbie Stewart","Dr. Luis Aguerrevere"],"dc:creator":["Forney, DiAne'"],"dc:date.available":["2019-06-29T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Research shows that cultural minority students are over-represented in special education services based on teacher bias and attitudes towards these cultural minority students. A cultural minority that has not been as widely researched is the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning (LGBTQ). The purpose of this study is to determine if teacher’s bias and attitude towards LGBTQ students interferes with their ability to make special education referrals for sexual minority students (Hebl, 2000), who are students identified as LGBTQ. For the purpose of this study, a variety of teachers were asked to complete, two qualifying questions, a detailed demographic questionnaire, the brief RCOPE, the Homosexual Attitude Scale, the Riddle Scale (both measuring attitude and acceptance of sexual minority individuals), two vignettes, and a post-vignette question to determine if the participants’ personal biases and attitudes impact their willingness to refer sexual minority students to special education. A logistic regression was used to analyze data. All data was collected from teachers via Mechanical Turk (Mturk) through Amazon. It is hypothesized that teachers are more likely to make a special education referral for sexual minority students than heterosexual students based on personal biases.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/257"],"dc:subject":["LGBTQ","sexual minority","special education","teacher attitude","LBGTQ in special education","Disability and Equity in Education","Educational Psychology","School Psychology"],"dc:title":["Teacher’s Attitudes and Willingness to Refer Sexual Minority Students to Special Education"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Human Services"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Doctor of Philosophy - School Psychology"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:30:22Z"}